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IT'S ALL ABOUT PHOTO SHY NEWTS!!!!!!!!

On Monday this week we were at Rosshall park doing some pond clearing. The group were clearing pond weed so that kids could come over the holidays and do some pond dipping, looking for fish and frogs. Amongst all the piles of pond weed we were bombarded with about 20 to 30 newts but unfortunately as soon as we got the camera out they all disappeared.

On Tuesday we were back at Glasgow Fort for the final time planting Wildflowers. The meadow is looking fantastic and wehave already seen some off the flowers blooming. Very pretty!!!!!

Since it was our last day on this site we took the oportunity to check out the site the group were working on last year which is now looking fantastic!

The wildflower meadow has started to attract loads of wildlife now such as Bee's and Butterflies which Sean got AMAZING pictures of!

On Wednesday and Thursday we were working between Garscadden Park and Garscadden Burn clearing some invasive spiecies like hymilayan balsam and Roseby willowherb. We had a few new volunteers out with us today. Everyone seemed to have loads of fun except from getting bitten loads by horse flies. grrrr.

24 June 2009

Hi everyone, sorry its been so long since the blog has been updated but we have been majorly busy in Glasgow. We are in the middle of moving office from milngavie to closer to Glasgow City Centre. So far its all going very well. Soooooo this week we have done a variety of projects. On Monday we were helping at the old office to clear it up. Everyone had loads of fun taking apart all the furniture that needed to go into the skip, but people werent happy getting eaten alive by midges! On Tuesday we were back at the Glasgow Fort doing wildflower planting. Some children from the local school came out and everyone had a great day. Although a few people suffered from some bad sunburn! Today we were at Cascadden Burn getting rid of Himalayan Balsam which is an invasive species of wildflower. Got loads of pics but unfortunatly can't find the wire for the camera so i will get some posted as soon as i can!!!

Sorry about the lack of posts over the past month, but BTCV Glasgow has been just as busy as always. I have photos of the last couple of weeks so I can try and play catch up now. First things first we have heard that ducks do not hiccup, we are awaiting independent confirmation of this. The week beginning the 5th of May began with a bank holiday, but the rest of the week was spent in Garscadden burn park and Darnley Park. Last week's glorious weather was divided between Duchess wood in Helensburgh and Petershill Business park.

The first of these weeks was somewhat spoiled by the torrential rain but this didn't dampen the spirits of the volunteers working at Garscadden burn park and, as seen in the photograph, Darnley park. In Garscadden burn park the volunteers were replacing a pond liner that had become damaged somehow. Despite having a lot to do and only a medium sized team we still managed to strip away the turf at the edge preserving the iris growing there, replace the liner and underlying fleece and replace the turf all in one day.
Darnley park was another day of heavy rain but plenty of work was completed helping to remove some foreign pests, such as Japanese knot weed and prepare the ground for seeding with wild flowers at some point in the future.

The second week was, by comparison, wonderful weather there was bright sunshine all week although there was a strong wind on Tuesday. In Duchess wood the volunteers were working to remove rhododendrons and thin out sycamore and silver birch trees. Duchess wood in Helensburgh has only become managed relatively recently and there is work about to begin involving paths and mapping to try and make this fantastic area more accessible to the public. We were very pleased to work in such a great place. The only day not spent at Duchess wood was Tuesday which was spent at Petershill Business park. An area we have worked on before turning an area of previously mown grass into a wild flower meadow. Early in the year we sowed a wild flower mix onto the grass which is only just starting to appear as flowers. Planting adult flowers on the area was a continuation of this.

Only a three day week this week so this should be a pretty short post. We were working at three different sites this week, day one was spent at Tollcross park, day two was split between Binghams pond and Garscadden burn park and day three was spent in Kelvingrove park.

Tollcross park was a pretty simple job, raking ground and then planting wild flower seeds. We also removed the turf in a number of small circular areas to allow a school group that was going to plant up some wild flowers themselves on Wednesday.

Wednesday was an interesting day that saw us returning to one of our old projects. We were taking aquatic plants from Binghams pond and transplanting them to our pond in Garscadden burn park. The plan is to create cover for aquatic creatures particularly insects. The pond needed a little housekeeping done as some bricks and logs had wound up in the pond. On the plus side the pond was alive with aquatic insects.

Thursday was spent at Kelvingrove park's Butterfly garden. Essentially we were weeding but with a difference. We had to be sure to leave some weeds, such as nettles, for the caterpillars to eat and hopefully increase the number and diversity of butterflies in the park. Kelvingrove is a fantastic location and we even had some nice weather.

One thing we couldn't figure out was do ducks hiccup.

Two weeks worth of projects to catch up on in this post. The first week was split between Hogganfield park and Pollock park.
The job at Hogganfield park was raking up the cut grass from one of the hillsides. Despite the fact that there was a large area the volunteers still managed to shift almost all of it. Hopefully this will give some other plants a chance this year rather than getting squeezed out by the grass.
Working at Pollock park our task was to move aquatic plants from one of the ponds out of sight of the public to another pond which the public can access. The weather was on our side during the visits to Pollock park and it was a great opportunity to work at such a well kept park. Our contact gave us a guided tour of the park and it was easy to see why the park is so popular.

Week two was spent in the Pennilee area of Glasgow, doing a community gardening project. This was a very interesting opportunity to reach people that the BTCV might not otherwise. We went to the gardens of elderly residents who are unable to do the gardening work themselves. This project was slightly different to the kind of work that BTCV might normally do but it was an important chance to reach out to a group who may not be able to visit parks in Glasgow and give some help to the elderly.

This week BTCV Glasgow was only working at one site all week so this will probably be quite a quick post. We were working at Lowmoss near Bishopbriggs, helping to restore a raised bog. This is an area of land that sits on a slight rise from the surrounding countryside and retains water without needing streams to feed it, much like a giant sponge sitting on a table. some time ago it was decided to dig an irrigation ditch around the bog and plant trees on it presumably intending to dry it out. Now the council are turning back the clock and trying to restore this fairly rare feature of the landscape.


Our part in this was to build dams to block up the irrigation ditches and prevent water seeping out of the bog. The extensive irrigation ditch runs around the outside of the bog and needs to be blocked at 10 metre intervals, meaning around 80 dams are required to complete the project.
The bog is home to a few different types of wildlife including ground nesting birds, frogs and deer, by restoring the bog these animals should thrive.

Building the dams is pretty straightforward if a little back breaking first we collect logs from trees felled on top of the moss. These are then given a point at one end with a saw by one of the volunteers. Finally they are hammered into the ground using a sledge hammer. By putting them in very close together in two rows about a foot apart we create the foundation for the dam. The space in between is filled with twigs leaves and mud in layers with the top layer made of turf. When the dams are finished they not only prevent the water from escaping the moss but they also act as bridges giving better access to area.